Industry Insight: UX At GE Healthcare

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As the creative director for the Design System for Healthcare, Vitorio Benedetti is responsible driving harmonization in products across multiple businesses within GE healthcare. He creates the visual language and basic patterns that inform the work of designers across the globe in multiple contexts, from Intensive Care monitoring devices to analytics dashboards displaying hospital workflows. He also collaborates with designers in other GE businesses raising the design quality on the company as a whole.

How did you get started in your career?

I started as a product designer working with furniture, signage systems and exhibitions. In 2006 I shifted my focus to User Experience after moving to Sweden and doing my Masters in Interaction Design. My first job as an interaction designer was at Nokia Maps, designing for public transport routing.

Why do you think UX is such a vital part of digital strategy?

Because it complements the set of constraints brought in by technology and business. Without UX a project misses a big part of the considerations that it must have to be rounded and well conceived.

Which areas of UX design excite you the most?

I'm particularly keen on the ‘define’ stage of the design process known as the double diamond (discover > define > design > deliver). That happens from the synthesis of the user research all the way to the creation of a brief that will inform the next phase of designing alternative solutions. This is a particularly important step as it sets the stage for the ‘solution’ and it's usually overlooked, as creative people tend to jump into solution mode very fast and leave the ‘problem space’ too fast. Spending time in the problem space warrants that the issue is seen from multiple angles before a solution starts to be defined. One method that is very suitable for this step is the Jobs to Be Done methodology.

How does commerce on mobile differ to that of a desktop?

They differ more in relation to user the behavior than in terms of functionality. I've seen it vary according to what is the purchased item's value. Mobile use can be either a step that is taken in the process, researching the options for a purchase, for example, that will finally happen on the desktop or in person or in another way a faster and more spontaneous purchase while in the desktop it's more calculated and pondered.

What, in your view, are the underserved aspects of UX and UI design?

Strategy, for sure. Being involved in the very beginning of the process, contributing to shape the brief and direction of the project from the get go. Being active in the ‘define’ space I mention in question 3 above.

What impact do you think emerging technologies like voice recognition will have on digital design?

Voice recognition as input is a very interesting technology as it makes interactions more natural and human. AR and VR also make spatial interactions richer enabling a number of use cases in terms of collaboration, learning, research and of course social and entertainment.

What can attendees expect from your presentation at the summit?

A reflective journey through the process of creating and managing a pattern library for a very large organization - lessons learnt and personal discoveries. Also how scale changes everything.

You can hear more from Vitorio, along with many other industry leading UX design experts, at the Digital Design & Web Innovation Summit this September 11-12 in San Francisco. To see the full schedule, click here.

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